Almost 200,000 ha wheat fields about to be lost in the core region
The hope of stopping the loss of wheat batches was in the rain this week, and now it is estimated that 12.5% of the wheat sown will soon be considered lost. This is a great productive blow for the region, in general, only 30K hectares are usually lost, almost 7 times less. Two years ago, in 2018/19 there was a reference value that approximates this level of damage: 118.000 hectares were lost. But in that year 75% were lost by hail. August 2020 ends with 25% of the wheat in the region beginning to grow; the recovery capacity of the crop is decreasing. And the forecasts do not show in the short term the possibility of reversing the situation. For this weekend, unstable conditions are expected but hardly produce rain.
Between drought and frost, the yield collapses
In the Clover, they said: “20 mm are needed to stop the drop in yield, which could reach up to 50%”. All the engineers this week agreed to point out the same with minor differences. “Although no frost damage is observed at the apex of wheat plants, affected leaves and tillers died,” they said to explain why heavy yield losses are being estimated. The rains were very important to stop the deterioration and death of tillers after two weeks with intense and repeated frosts, that had a very strong impact due to the lack of water. In the Rojas area to show the intensity of the cold, they show the following photo: an irrigation team working on the morning of 8/20.
Frost damage has been significant but also highly variable between batches. And one of the most noted points has been the different susceptibility to cold of the wheat varieties, apart from the amount of stubble and the topographic position of the lot. In Pergamino city, the technicians this week also explained that the most affected squares are the ones which last year also had winter crops and now show plant losses. It is not yet possible to estimate the impact of all this, but in general, it is agreed that there will be a drop in yields of 20 to 50%.
Source: Bolsa de comercio de Rosario
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